


Not a fair fight

by reddeadmort



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Eventual Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Protective Siblings, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 19:26:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18372545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddeadmort/pseuds/reddeadmort
Summary: You're Kieran's sister, having to hide out with the Van der Linde gang. Arthur develops a sweet spot for you, but you're too angry at him for terrorising your brother....





	Not a fair fight

_“Arthur, please, for me?”_

_“Mary-Beth, I ain’t riding for hours to go and get that O’Driscoll’s sister.”_

_“Arthur! You know he’s not an O’Driscoll no more, never really was. And she’s an innocent! If the O’Driscolls are after her like Kieran thinks, she’ll be dead soon. You could save her.”_

_Arthur sighed. Mary-Beth really knew how to play him like a fiddle. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Arthur shook his head before replying._

_“Fine. I’ll go help Kieran find his damn sister. But she ain’t stayin’ with us long, and she’ll pull her weight!”_

——-

You had just finished moving the rubbish out of the back of your little shack when the two men on horseback showed up. Before they’d had a chance to even call out to you, your shotgun was in your hands and pointing at the face of the bigger of the pair.

“Sister! It’s okay, it’s me!” Kieran called out, leaping off and running towards you.

“Kieran? What the hell are you doing here? I thought…well, to be honest, I assumed you were dead. Since you were stupid enough to go along with that O’Driscoll lot.” You lowered your gun just as Kieran flew into you, nearly knocking you over, and hugged you tightly. With your arms pinned to your side, all you could do was awkwardly pat him on the back with your free hand.

“I got out, sis! I… well it’s a long story, but I’m running with a different lot now. And they’re a lot nicer.” This comment caused the man still sat on his horse to chuckle. “This here’s Arthur Morgan, Y/N.”

“Ma’am” Arthur said as he tipped his hat at you, finally getting off his horse.

“Well, that’s all lovely Kieran, but why the hell are you  _here_?” Kieran finally released you and started nervously wringing his hat in his hands.

“Ummm… I’m sorry sis….. but….but…..” Kieran stammered.

“Kieran, this is takin’ too damn long. Either she’s comin’ or she ain’t.” Arthur grunted, lighting a cigarette.

“What do you mean,  _‘she’s coming_?’” you snapped at the pair of them.

“Well, sis, I think there’s some O’Driscoll men coming after ya. They ain’t so keen on me leaving as it turns out.”

“Well  _we_  won’t be so cut up, feel free to leave us when you want” Arthur chuckled to himself, but went back to fiddling with his cigarettes when you scowled at him.

“Yes, thank you Kieran, I know. I’ve already had a visitor.” You hadn’t even finished your sentence before Arthur had his revolver out and was pushing past you into the shack. “Mr Morgan, while I of course appreciate you tramping mud into my house, you won’t find him in there.”

“Where’s he then? When did he come by? How long has he been gone?” Arthur was in fight mode now, assessing the situation, planning an exit strategy.

“Out back, with the rubbish. Came by about an hr ago. Died about 59minutes ago” you answered, nodding towards the back of the shack. Arthur, looking slightly bemused, took off around the shack to have a look, while Kieran once again grabbed you in a hug.

“Oh sister I’m so sorry!”

“Kieran, for the love of god, will you get the hell off me.”

Arthur reappeared from the back of the shack, a slight grin on his face.

“Yep, that’s one dead O’Driscoll. At least I reckon it is, ain’t much left of the face. Kieran, you sure she needs to come with us?” Arthur was looking at you slightly differently now; before, he couldn’t really be bothered, like you were an inconvenience. Now there was a slight twinkle in his eye you weren’t sure you liked the look of.

“Again, what’s with the ‘coming with you?!’” You were getting quite irritated now.

“Miss, Kieran here reckons you should come stay with us a while, until the O’Driscolls get bored of trying to find you.” As you opened your mouth to protest, Arthur held up a hand to silence you. “Now, I know you can clearly take care of yourself, but when that man don’t come back, they won’t be sending just the one. And I won’t feel right leavin’ you here to deal with that.”

“So instead I have to deal with you?”

“Sister, please.” Kieran was practically begging you, it was just like being kids again.

“We ain’t nice men, Y/N, but we ain’t them.” Arthur was giving you a look that said you were being put on a horse, whether you liked it or not.

“ _Fine._  I’ll just grab a few things.” You quickly threw some clothes and the few valuables you had in a bag. You really didn’t have much, anyway; you’d never have told Kieran, but you’d been struggling to get enough money to buy food, let alone anything more extravagant than that. You’d even had to sell your horse a few months back.

“Y/N, you can ride with me” Arthur held a hand out for you to climb on his horse behind him.

“I think I’ll ride with my brother Mr Morgan.”

“Suit yourself.”  

——-

It had been a few weeks since you’d arrived in the Van der Linde camp, and you certainly didn’t feel like much of a guest, more ‘staff’. You had been set to work almost immediately; though, to be fair, one taste of Pearson’s stew had you pretty much begging to take over the cooking.

You got on alright with the women, but the men did your head in. Not because of how they treated you; in general they were pretty polite, though you had to tell a couple of them that it wouldn’t be just bits of deer in the stew if they came any closer to you. Your problem was with how they treated your brother. He couldn’t do anything right; even when he was just sat, or tending to the horses, he got shouted at for some reason. It was like your dad was alive again.

Kieran being Kieran wouldn’t stick up for himself at all, just tried to avoid doing anything to trigger anybody. But he didn’t need to do anything; all he had to do was pass by one of them and they’d make some form of derogatory comment. You fought back as hard as you could on his behalf, just like you had growing up. Arthur was one of the worst, he always seemed to have a sarcastic phrase or two; for some reason, Kieran liked him more than a lot of the others despite this. Apparently, Kieran said, when you weren’t around, Arthur was fine with him. You had no idea why this would be, and didn’t really care.

—–

_“Arthur, for a grown man, you sure act like a teenager” Mary-Beth gently scolded._

_Arthur frowned, unsure what she meant. He’d only asked her why you didn’t really ever want to talk to him; he wasn’t really expecting that response._

_“She doesn’t like it when you are mean to her brother, Arthur, it’s as simple as that. It’s all you ever do when she’s around! Have you tried, I don’t know, maybe just talking to her?”_

_“I don’t know what to say Mary-Beth. I always just kind of… go blank.”_

_“You’re a silly old fool Arthur Morgan.”_

—–

The next morning, you were chatting as you helped a couple of the girls prep some breakfast. You liked this time, just after sunrise, before most of the camp had got up. It was peaceful, and your day had yet to be disturbed by some offhand comment.

“Mary-Beth, reckon I could borrow one of the horses? I could really do with some meat that’s not green for the stew.”

Before Mary-Beth could answer, Arthur’s now familiar voice rumbled behind you, making you start.

“I can take ya out huntin’, Y/N.” His tone surprised you – it sounded almost hopeful. You turned to look at him.

“Thank you Mr Morgan, but I really don’t need a chaperone.” Behind your back, Mary-Beth gestured to Arthur, encouraging him to say something else.

“Y/N, I….errr… well you ain’t leavin’ camp without one, so either you go huntin’ with me or stay here.” Without you seeing, Mary-Beth slapped her hand to her forehead, covering her eyes, shaking her head.

“Well I guess I’m going with you then Mr Morgan” you sighed, starting to walk away to get your gun.

You and Arthur rode in silence towards the hunting spot Charles had recommended, you having borrowed one of the camp horses. When you arrived, you hitched the horses, put out some herbivore bait, and settled in to wait. Arthur leaned against a nearby tree while you crouched low a little way in front. After a little while waiting, with no luck, you stood up to stretch your legs.

“Mr Morgan, can you keep an eye on the bait for a moment please.”

“You can call me Arthur ya know.” Again, there it was; a slightly hopeful note to his voice.

“I know, Mr Morgan, I just don’t want to.”

“I don’t know what ya want from me” grumbled Arthur. “I mean, I didn’t kill your brother, I saved his life, that’s got to count for something.” He kicked at a nearby stone, sending it crashing into a bush, scaring the crap out of an unsuspecting rabbit.

“Oh, will you shut up about that?!” you rounded on Arthur, startling him. “God! Like it’s some great thing, “not killing someone”. Normal people don’t even THINK about killing someone else! Much less, that person having to be grateful for it!” By the time you finished, you were right in Arthur’s face, him backed up against the tree, hands out trying to placate you. You suddenly realised how close you were to him; you could practically feel his thumping heartbeat.

You stepped away a few paces before sitting down on the ground with a quiet huff. After a few moments silence, Arthur came to sit next you, not particularly close.

“I’m sorry Y/N. We shouldn’t be so hard on Kieran, he’s a good kid. And he’s lucky to have a woman like you for a sister.” Arthur plucked some grass from the ground, fiddling with it.

“Woman like me? What does that mean.” You meant to snap at him, but the sight of this large, grown man fiddling with the grass like a child softened you.

“I don’t mean nothin’ bad by it. I think you’re….. strong.” Arthur had paused too long before that last word, you could tell it wasn’t what he wanted to say.

“Thank you Arthur.” He looked up as you said his name; it was the first time you hadn’t called him Mr Morgan.

“Thank  _you_  Y/N. I’m sorry, I think sometimes I forget to behave around people that ain’t…. well, outlaws.”

“It’s okay Arthur. I guess I’m not doing a great job of showing that I’m grateful for your protection either.”

“If your dumbass brother hadn’t fallen in with the O’Driscolls you wouldn’t be in this mess with us” Arthur chuckled.

“Hey! He’s my dumbass brother, only  _I_  may mock him” you said as you stuck your tongue out playfully at Arthur, making him smile. It was nice smile; without intending to, you found yourself hoping that you’d see it again.  

“Ya know, Y/N, I’d like to come huntin’ again with you if you’d have me.” There he went again, fiddling with the grass, like a kid 20-25 years his junior. You smiled before replying.

“I think I’d like that too Arthur.”


End file.
